We flew down to Canberra on the Friday morning. This time we were flying with Qantas and was hoping that flying with them wouldn't be as costly as with Jetstar (with a bike box) And true to that, it didn't cost us anything extra to fly me, Karen and the bike down to Canberra. However, in saying that I think it is a real advantage when you are flying with someone else who isn't competing. I could use all the baggage allowance for the bike and the rest of my clothes and gear were a part of Karen's baggage allowance. (and who could possibly use the whole 32kg for clothes.....hmmm)
We arrived into Canberra about 12.00pm their time. The weather conditions were the best...in fact they were quite miserable.....rain...cold (13degrees)...windy! Picked up the car (Kluger...very nice...we were actually expecting a Hyundai Getz) We arrived at the Hotel...checked in...then I spent an hour putting the bike back together which I have to disassemble into a couple of hundred part (well maybe not that many) to fit into the bike box. That's what I get for having a large frame bike. Anyway the bike went together fine....no concerns...no extra parts.
For the rest of the afternoon we spent indoor......ah...our room...a shoe box is what I would describe it as...this is another story for another time...but to fit a bike, hard case bike box and 2 people was getting very tight. In fact there was more room on the 'deck' area of the room than the room itself.
Saturday morning was upon us and I used this opportunity for a good nights rest and didn't get up until about 9.00am which gave me about 10/11 hours sleep...very nice. The next agenda item was breakfast.
Weather report (Saturday) - Showers, winds 35-45km/hr winds
About 12.00pm I went out for a 20min spin on the bike to check how the bike was operating after assembling it. All went well. However, the wind was very uncomfortable, at times it was not easy just staying on the bike.
After the ride I went for a 10-15min run just to loosen the legs up as they hadn't done a lot over the past couple of days.
About 2.00pm I went down to transitions to register and check my bike in. The registration was simple and not very busy at all. Race number was 408. Then took my bike into the transition area. The position of our bikes were marked by labels on the bike racks. (Similar to that of Bribie). The wind was whipping through the transition area and the bikes were sliding along the racks. It was recommended that we rack our bikes initially using the handle bars and then on race day to turn the bike around.
Dinner was a small pasta/pizza restaurant in Dickson....very nice and filled the spot. We had dinner at about 5.30-6.00pm.
Hydration has been ongoing since Thursday. The hydration focus always begins on the Thursday before the race and involves limited soft drink etc. and really working on the intake of water and sports drinks.
Got back to the Hotel and organised the gear for the race...the checklist was utilised in ensuring that I had all the gear I needed.
The nutrition/hydration strategy was as outlined below:
The Bike
- 1 before the race
- a gel every 30min on the bike. Therefore it would mean that I would have a gel at 30min/1h30m/2h30m.
- On the hour (1hr/2hr) I planned to have a portion of a powerbar to take on something more substantial.
The Run
- A gel every 30min
- Drinking 15min
- After 11km Drinking cola every 15min.
In bed about 9.00pm and the plan was to be up at 4.00am and down in transition by about 5.15am
Breakfast was 1 banana, 1 sports drink. With my wave being at 7.00am it is planned that I have another banana down at transition about 6.00am and continue with the water throughout this time.
The weather conditions: fine, windy (25-30km/h) and cold (13degrees)
Arriving at transitions at about 5:20am I went into transition to set up my bike. It was quite cold this morning and I was certainly 'rugged' up for the occasion. In the back of my mind was that if I am cold now what am I going to be like during the race, wet coming out of the water and then onto the bike with the wind blowing...it would have been interesting knowing the wind chill factor? With this thought I left a running shirt with my gear in transition 'just in case'.
At 6.45am I got into the water....had about a 10min warm up. It was warmer in the water then out of it. The water was relatively choppy about 40cm chop.
7.00am the Gun went off and we were off...the 35-39 age group was the second biggest in the race. The swim in the lake was relatively simple to navigate as it was a rectangular shaped course and there were plenty of landmarks to assist with navigating. The first 700m leg wasn't too bad, it was about trying to get into a rhythm in the chop. At times throughout the swim I felt as I was swimming alone...everyone was so spread out...that was good in that you weren't running into people all the time but a negative in that you had no one to draft off. The one thing I found about the chop was that it knock you off your race line and I need to check more often to ensure I was going in the right direction
The 2nd leg of the swim was only 175m and I was swimming with the chop coming in from the right hand side and therefore found that I was only breathing to the left for most of this leg as when I tried to breath to the left I would often get a mouthful of water.
The 3rd leg of the swim was the toughest...swimming directly into the chop and against a little bit of a current...at time it felt like I was going no where. I preserved and finally got to the last buoy before turning for home. It was hard to get into a rhythm as the chop would cut your stroke short a lot of the time.
I finally got to the swim exit and looked at my watch...35min wow...it was a struggle...maybe a touch long...that could be also related to swimming a little further than I had too...but not much could be done now. I now endured a 350m run from swim exit to my bike....it was a little hard on the feet...they were quite tender from the cold.
T1 - Arghhh Transitions.....this where I need to spend some time just practicing....had an issue with getting my wet suit off this time...it just wouldn't come off my right foot...that was with a healthy amount of body glide being applied before the race...I just don't seem to be able to get it 'right' consistently.
Onto the bike.....
This was a real challenge. The wind was blowing....probably used a little more energy on the swim then I usually do....As soon as I left transition the wind was directly into your face and stayed like that for about the next 10km of the 30km loop after that for the next 15km it varied from a head wind to a cross wind. To add to this it wasn't the flattest course going around...
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The first lap was completed in about 58min and the second about the same the 3rd was a little slower (1h02min). On the 3rd lap I spent a little more time at a higher cadence to try and resurrect my legs a bit more for a good run. The nutrition and hydration worked relatively well throughout however around the 2hr mark I begun to get a stomach cramp and therefore backed off the gels, sports drink and powerbar for about 30min just drank water for that time. To add to this was a sudden urge to go to the toilet...too much water maybe? I persevered and mentally worked through the discomfort, about the 2h40m mark I began to 'come good'. But would still love to find a toilet...I didn't really see any 'potaloos' on the ride course at all. The ride leg was completed in a time of 3h03min (including T1 and T2)
The legs were a little more fatigued that I have experienced in the past. The focus was now..just to finish... the 5h10m to 5h20m goal was going to be a fairly difficult task to achieve...It was now about ticking the boxes.
Out onto the run 
I was in search for a toilet....there wasn't one in transition and there wasn't one within the first couple of Km's....a tree sufficed....the run leg was relatively flat and initially I didn't go out to fast. 
The running surface was mixed between, cement, bitumen, gravel and grass. The first 4 km were at a pace to find my legs and hydrate and get some food into the body. Just after the 5k mark I felt a little stiff in the left quad and stopped to stretch it and ended up cramping (very painfully) in the left hamstring....I then spent a little bit of time trying to get that left leg functioning a better.
Eventually I was on my way again. However, at about the 7km mark I began to feel a niggle in the left hip/ lower back by the 8km it was that painful that I couldn't run any longer and walked for about 200-300m...throughout this time I was thinking that I needed to finish and I still had 13km to go and if I don't get going again it could be a long trip to finish. The power of positive thinking kick in and I began to get going again with a shuffle and slowly as it warmed up my stride began to free up a little more and by about the 10/11km mark I was in full stride again; however, was in quite a bit of pain..
I was determined that this was not going to beat me...the positive thinking and was working overtime and I was getting through it. Around this mark (10k) I took on some sports drink to bring up my electrolyte levels which I thought may help the cramping and hip/back pain. At the 11km I began to use the cola as my form of hydration, along with the sports drink. The way in which they delivered the water and sports drink at the aid stations was very good...very easy to take the liquid into the body..it was in plastic sealed bags (picture below)
The last 10km of the run was a lot quicker then the first 11km and I felt a lot better. The time for the run was about 1hr57m.
I passed through the finish in a time of 5h41m21s
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